Art Cullen.

Gov. Kim Reynolds can put up her pointy-toe cowboy boots and reflect on 10 years of solid damage done under the golden dome.

She might not be remembered as the worst. The Iowa History Journal ascribes that title to Gov. William L. Harding (1917-1921), who was considered for impeachment for pardoning a rapist from Ida County in which a $5,000 bribe was involved. The Sibley native did not endear himself to Germans, Danes or Norwegians hereabouts when he banned anything but English in public during World War I. When preachers objected, Harding declared, “There is no use in anyone wasting his time praying in languages other than English. God is listening only to the English tongue.”

Harding earned a censure vote from the Iowa House, which fell short of impeachment. These days, such a record might land him a spot in Trump’s Cabinet.

To his credit, Harding founded the Iowa Conservation Commission, predecessor to the Department of Natural Resources.

It probably doesn’t count but the worst would be Henry Atkinson, an Army general who was appointed Iowa’s first governor but resigned before he took office in 1838. He got the appointment for slaughtering and starving Native people in the Black Hawk Wars.

Reynolds is the worst governor of my lifetime, starting in 1957. Norm Erbe of Boone might have won the award were it not for his defeat just two years into office at the hands of Harold Hughes of Ida Grove, the best governor of my lifetime. He launched the community college system and allowed bars to serve whiskey as God intended.

Reynolds, 66, is wrapping up 10 years as governor with a record that should be remembered for how it dragged Iowa backwards. Her final legislative session should leave fellow conservatives nonplused with a property tax reform built of Swiss cheese and no action on eminent domain.

She touts cutting and flattening income taxes at 3.8% as her proudest accomplishment. That singular feat is driving up property taxes, building billion-dollar annual deficits and eroding public education.

Rural health care access is clamming up as clinics close and specialists flee. Cancer rates are rising. Immigrants are afraid. Village main streets fall to the bulldozer. The park ranger got evicted. The Storm Lake Marina was left to neglect by the DNR. Our roads are terrible.

Last in economic growth. Among the leaders in brain drain. Tuition at an Iowa public university is twice that of Nebraska, heaven help us. Our average incomes are far behind Minnesota.

With a legacy like that, you can see why Reynolds is not running for re-election. She staunchly maintains her position as the most unpopular governor in America, according to the Morning Consult polling.

Norm Erbe bragged about banning books as attorney general. Reynolds blows him out of the saddle with state laws ordering schools to act as censors. Her hostility to gays and to immigrants is so ignorant it is shocking, but that is how far Iowa has reverted into hickdom. We are denying civil rights protections to certain people because of who they are. It is un-American and certainly not worthy of Iowa’s general tradition of tolerant, suppressed racism and homophobia.

Reynolds’s heir apparent, Randy Feenstra, is just as cynical. His ads hate on immigrants just fine. Feenstra, our congressman from Hull, is the Establishment man. Candidate Adam Steen is promoted by the evangelicals. Zach Lahn might have a corner on the GOP populists by thrashing Big Ag and speaking in coded culture language. This thing could go to a nominating convention. It is not exactly an orderly exit for Reynolds, who was handed her job by the dean of governors, Terry Branstad.

Branstad was not even close to the worst as Democrats driven to desperation by him would claim. He was friendly and honest. He got us through the farm crisis. We could have done without his second iteration where he threw in with Trump. Branstad was okay. Steady. He certainly understood small-town Iowa, and he respected those who differed with him. Reynolds makes him look better and kinder.

Tom Vilsack was fantastic for Storm Lake. His administration funded King’s Pointe Resort, built the Storm Lake Marina and got the lake dredged. He was a great governor who worked with Republican Senate Leader Jeff Lamberti. It was a different era not so far back.

Chet Culver got caught up in a nasty national recession. It wasn’t his fault. Bad timing for a good man. He called on Iowa to develop alternative sources of energy, which looks awfully smart for the Big Lug by today’s demands.

Bob Ray defined Iowa Nice. He presided over a golden era of expansion and excellence in higher education, closing his career as president of Drake University.

Rob Sand should be the next governor. He is a Democrat. Sand is not stridently partisan. He tries to act like an independent and talks like a straight shooter. Iowa needs to set the navigation back to middle of the road. Sand is on the right track. He’s no Harold Hughes, but Sand would be a huge relief from the onslaught to our basic values.

Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot newspaper, where this column first appeared. It is republished here through the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please consider subscribing to the collaborative at iowawriters.substack.com and the authors’ blogs to support their work.